US Dependent On Russian Soyuz Spacecraft, Unable To End Cooperation Until 2023 – Roscosmos

The Pentagon will not be able to cease its cooperation with the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos until the end of 2022 as the United States will need time to switch to sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard new US manned spacecraft instead of using Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday

SAMARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik -) The Pentagon will not be able to cease its cooperation with the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos until the end of 2022 as the United States will need time to switch to sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard new US manned spacecraft instead of using Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday.

The US Department of Defense will start implementing a ban on certain commercial satellite services from Russia after 2022.

“They [the United States] have said that the current status quo will be preserved until December 31, 2022. I think that this date has been chosen for some special reason. Obviously, until the end of 2022 the United States will continue conducting test flights and qualifying its new commercial manned spacecraft .

.. They say that they will start flying [to the ISS] aboard new spacecraft, be it SpaceX or Boeing, this year already. Perhaps they will, but they still understand that it will take certain time to ensure the necessary safety of these flights,” Rogozin told reporters.

The United States believes that it will be able to stop using Soyuz on January 1, 2023, and this is why it has decided to introduce the ban on Russian satellite services on this date, Rogozin suggested.

“We expect that despite sanctions we will preserve our partnership with certain US firms that experience huge pressure but still prefer Russian engines because they are highly reliable and have a good price-performance ratio,” Rogozin added.